To Die By Your Side
by MySilentLullaby
Summary: A recently freed Chell encounters a man who claims to be her husband. Although reluctant to believe him, she starts to warm up to him... Only to find out a very dark truth about her past. Rated M for later on. Some violence.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

She couldn't remember the last time she felt the warmth of the sun on her face. No, never mind, she could. It had been a long time ago and she had only seen a glimpse of it after escaping before being dragged back into the underground facility that would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.

But here she was. Face turned up towards the sky, arms spread out on either side and eyes closed as she soaked it all in. The sunlight bathing her in warmth she hadn't ever felt down below. The woman let out an excited squeak of joy and, although she wanted to stay like this forever, she knew she had something to do now.

She wasn't very tall, about five foot three inches, but the heel springs on her mechanical looking boots added about two inches to her overall height. And with her arms splayed out on either side of her, she looked like she was a child experiencing the feeling of getting caught in the rain for the first time. She took in another breath of fresh air and committed the scents to memory; earthy, musty scents that were far more natural than the sour, medical office scents of the test chambers below her. She liked these scents much better. Just the idea of never having to deal with a test chamber again made her want to scream out in utter joy. She wanted to run through the wheat bare-footed, feel the dirt between her toes and feel the tickle of the wheat on her skin. She wanted the warm summer breeze to blow through her hair, she wanted to rip the little rubber band that held her dark hair into a long, neat ponytail out and let her hair fall around her neck and shoulders. She wanted to be free, and now, now she was.

The woman, who went by the name of Chell, turned and looked down at the giant steel-plated cube beside her, smiling and picking it up. Surprisingly, it wasn't as heavy as she remembered it being. With one last glance at the tiny tin shed she had emerged from, Chell stepped into the sea of golden wheat in front of her and left the nightmare behind.


	2. Chapter 1: Sea Of Gold

**Chapter One: Sea of Gold**

She gasps as she is awoken with the sound of crashing thunder at her window. Chell hasn't heard the sound of thunder and seen the flash of lightning since... well... she can't remember. Sitting up from her makeshift bed on the floor of an abandoned, decaying farmhouse not far from where the shed was, Chell pulls her knees up to her chest, hugging them as she watches the rain pitter patter against the window. A smile spreads across her roughened lips as she silently thanks some deity that she found this place before the storm began.

She is particularly glad that the storm has awoken her at this moment in the night, for she was having another nightmare of _him._ The giant metal sphere who had tricked her into a false sense of friendship - companionship even! - and then had betrayed her the moment he had gained power. His hurtful words and moronic attitude swirls around in her brain like water down the drain and angered by how much it is eating away at her, she strikes her hand against the wall beside her, wincing in pain. The wall looks much weaker than it actually is. Chell cradles her wounded hand, nursing it like a child.

The nightmare, which she has experienced at least twice now, is always the same. She is lying on the wet ground, portal device just out of her reach and _he _is looming over her, rain piercing her skin like ice cold bullets. She stretches her arms, but for every three inches her hand stretches to meet the Portal Device it always seems to move ten more inches away. His glowing blue optic flares, a sort of mechanical way of smiling maniacally, before he tells her that she's done for. If only she could grab the Portal Device and shoot the portal on the moon. If only she could just _touch_ the Portal Device.

And just like that, the dream ends, no dying, no last minute escape, hell she can't even remember hearing GLaDOS, the original supercomputer and then potato battery, screaming at her to pick up the Portal Device. This is what scares Chell the most; the thought that death was nothing but a black abyss and she would be alone in it forever. After living life alone with only machinery as company, you'd think most people would be used to it - happy even - to be alone. But Chell is different, tenacious and strong willed, her only goal now is to find a friend. Or at least some sort of civilization.

Before long, Chell finds the storm has stopped and the sun is rising again. Chell has only seen the sun rise once since leaving Aperture two days ago and instantly is at the window watching it rise again. Her eyes, wide and grey, shine with the reflection of orange-red glow the wonderful sun creates in the sky. It's almost as if she feels like she missed out on so much and with the simple act of watching the sun rise each morning she is gaining little by little what she has lost.

But her favorite part, the part she won't admit is her favorite, is when the sun creeps up and illuminates the long strands of wheat, making them glow the most brilliantly golden colour she has ever seen. The tall grassy plants blowing softly in the morning breeze almost sparkle as the light hits them. Chell can't help but think the whole scene looks like a very strange painting, where the sea is gold instead of greenish blue and the sky is a bright orange like a portal. It easily takes her breath away.

After an hour though Chell gets bored and decides to set out on her journey again. She scrambles to stand up off the dusty wood floor boards and collects her belongings; the companion cube and her long fall boots. Stepping out into the cool morning air, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, savoring the moment. She has no idea if she'll ever experience this again. This beautiful, wonderful feeling of seeing and feeling the sun on her face.

She doesn't like carrying the cube, but she enjoys the company it gives her. A dilemma she has decided is not worth arguing with herself over. Something told her the cube would be a valuable asset to her. Even if it couldn't respond to her in anyway.

Strapping on her long fall boots, which after being worn for so long, have cut into her calves and caused thin scars to appear on her legs, Chell stands up quickly and taking another deep breath of the fresh morning air, she scoops the cube up into her arms and lugs it onto one shoulder. She's got a long walk ahead of her, and she's not quite sure what's out there, but sooner or later she'll find what she's looking for.

Chell's thoughts swirl around in her head as she begins her walk away from the old farmhouse and towards a small, overgrown dirt path leading west. Her most common thought though, is how will she react upon meeting another human? Like a five year old with an incredibly detailed imagination, Chell amuses herself with possible scenarios she could encounter upon meeting humans. There are the usual ones involving the worst outcomes; she finds a village of rabid cannibals who want to eat her, she finds out that humans have evolved to a better species and that she ends up being put on display or autopsied for "educational" purposes, or the worst one: All the humans are dead and she is the only living being left. That last scenario makes her shiver, just the thought that she's all alone in this world causes her more stress then any of the other terrible outcomes she could experience.

But then there are the good scenarios. The ones she is more fond of and likes much more than the other terrible outcomes. These are the ones involving finding many humans who are happy to see her, who will help her relearn the things she's forgotten (like how to cook or how to drive a car), or finding just a small village of people who yearn to rebuild the world as a better and more beautiful place. Chell can hardly remember what the earth was like before Aperture, but she hazily remembers a lot of corruption and evil polluting it.

But her favorite scenario to imagine, which she happens to be imagining as she walks along the dirt path this fine morning, is that she'll find one person. One. Single. Person. A man, a handsome man who will have been searching for another human as well. And when they meet they will not care about who they were, their pasts will not matter. They will become friends, and perhaps something more, and they will drift - like ghosts in the wind - across the country, hand in hand. Nothing would worry them, for they would have each other. They would die by each other's side, when the time came.

It seems cliche to think of, but Chell doesn't mind it. She wonders if maybe, before Aperture, she was one of those over the top romantic women she vaguely remembers watching on television. The kind that swooned upon seeing their significant other (most likely a tall, strong, handsome man) enter the room or look up into the night sky with big dreamy eyes. The kind of woman who would die in a matter of mere minutes in Aperture.

Aperture has changed her. Aperture is a place no one with the romantic damsel in distress facade could go. Not unless you have a death wish. Of course, Chell is different. She has always been a rather... tenacious woman. And as she walks through the tall grasses and wheat she ponders the possibility that perhaps she was a rather feisty woman before Aperture, only keeping her romantic desires as a deep dark secret from the rest of the world. Maybe, just maybe, Chell was a strong, independent woman that she, to this very moment, came to believe Caroline was.

Caroline. Her story, although tragic, makes Chell smile, because somewhere deep down in the supercomputer's mainframe, the woman still lives. Or so Chell hopes.

_Enough about Aperture!_ Chell mentally scolds herself for thinking of the one place she will never go back to. She's been walking for a few hours now and notices her arms are tired and her stomach is rumbling. In Aperture, cans of beans and tomato soup were lying around, some open and half eaten, others untouched. Food was never a problem. But here in the world, the open-aired, free-as-a-bird world, there was definitely no cans of beans just lying about for her.

Chell stops dead and drops the companion cube on the ground in front of her gently. Wiping the sweat that has accumulated on her brow, she shields her eyes from the blaring sun and smiles up at the sky. She doesn't know what time it is, or if time is even important anymore, but she figures by the position of the sun in the sky its about noon. She desperately searches the fields around her for any sign of something edible other than wheat. A source of fruit or protein or _something_ that she could munch on for a short while before she picks up where she has left off and continues her search for society.

But alas, nothing. Nothing but wheat and tall, dried out grass. Chell collapses into a heap next to the cube, defeated finally, and glances at it out of the corner of her eye. "You wouldn't have an idea on what I should do, do you?" She asks, voice cracking and hurting her throat from lack of use. These are the first words she's spoken in who knows how long and instantly she regrets it.

Her voice is gravely and hoarse, her throat getting itchy with each syllable she pronounces. She aches now for water to soothe the soreness developing in her esophagus and frowning, she drapes herself across the cube, knowing very well there isn't much water around.

She closes her eyes and promises herself to never talk again unless she absolutely must. Her one sided conversations with the cube will just have to stay in her head as rhetorical questions; doomed to never be answered by anyone. Curling in on herself, pulling her knees up to her chest and pushing her stomach in on itself (a technique she taught herself in Aperture when she was hungry and there wasn't any cans of food lying around) she focuses her energy on staying calm and keeping her mind off of her stomach. But with the blazing sun above her and causing sweat to gently drip down her neck and back, she finds herself sleepy rather than focused. One cool, gray eye cracks open to give one last glance up at the cube before she snuggles up closer to it, lying in the sliver of shade it provides and drifting peacefully off to sleep in the midday breeze.

When Chell awakes the sun is lower in the sky and the heat that had made her sweat buckets earlier has transformed into a cool evening breeze. She stands up slowly and plops herself down on the cube, using it as a makeshift chair. She looks around and notices that the sky is starting to change colours again. A sight she wouldn't miss for the world.

But there's a problem. And Chell instantly knows what said problem is the moment her stomach begins to growl again. It's almost as if her stomach - no, her body - _knows_ she isn't confined to the underground chambers Aperture had trapped her in anymore. It's like her body just knew she was free and could finally spend the time to sit down and eat. But the problem was, there was no food.

Except wheat.

Reluctantly, Chell pulls at a nearby wheat plant and lifts it out of the loose dirt beneath it. It springs free from the dirt and falls into her lap, a soft, barely audible _snap_ sounds, indicating the stem has broken free of the roots. Without hesitating, Chell begins to chew on the wheat. It's rather dry and tasteless as she swirls the tiny wheat seeds around in her mouth. She would much rather have a big, juicy burger - or even another can of beans at this point, but beggars can't be choosers and she accepts what the environment can provide her with.

She eats five or six wheat plants before she can't stand the texture in her mouth anymore and gives up. Her stomach still isn't full, but it's satisfied enough that she can keep moving. And that's good enough for her. She quickly picks up where she's left off; snatching the cube up in her arms again and carrying it through the fields towards what she hopes to be civilization.

The sky is turning a strange and wonderful shade of inky-blue and Chell knows that soon she'll need to find shelter or else she'll freeze to death in the cold night air. But there seems to only be a small, dirt road ahead and no buildings in sight. Still, the road is a good sign and excitedly Chell starts to run along it, following it closely like a child follows its mother.

With the cube under one arm and her long fall boots pounding against the earthy pathway underneath her, Chell's heart begins to pump faster and she feels an instant rush of adrenaline. _This is it,_ she thinks, _at the end of this road is a town or settlement or even a village and in that village, there will be humans, there will be living goddamned humans!_ With that in mind she pushes herself even harder.

Each pounding footstep brings her closer. Each heaving breath that causes her chest to jerk wildly up and then back down again brings her that much closer. Each tiny movement of her body brings her that much closer to humanity, to civilization, to other people. The scenery around her whips past her, she's running like her life depends on it. She's running like she would if she were in Aperture. Everything is a blur to her except what is in front of her. And there is no stopping her.

The sky is starting to become dotted with tiny pretty stars and Chell can now feel goosebumps rise on her skin, sending cold shivers down her spine. The air is cool and wet, humid from the warmth the sun had gifted earlier that day. She slows down, trying to catch her breath. In the distance - about half a mile she thinks - a large wooden sign pokes up from the ground. Behind it, Chell sees the blurred outlines of buildings.

Her heart skips a beat and excitement shoots through her veins as she is reassured she was right. Switching the cube from one arm to the other, she continues towards the sign, jogging as quickly as possible. As if she had only a certain amount of time to get there before it vanished.

But before she realizes it, she's already there. Standing in front of the wide, rotting wood that made up the sign, Chell drops the cube and smiles, laughing silently to herself.

The sign is made of wood, which is slowly rotting away. The paint, once a brilliant cerulean blue is now dull and peeling away. In what might have once been bright white lettering, in a beautiful cursive script, the sign read:

Welcome to

LITTLETON.

Population: 5500

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hi! Long time no update huh? Sorry I haven't been updating this story as fast as I used to update Troubled Minds. So here it is! The first chapter! Please read and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 2: Littleton

**Chapter Two: Littleton**

She is awoken by the sound of birds chirping. A sound that, for someone who had spent who-knows-how-long underground, can be terrifying. Chell sits up quickly, causing the multitude of tiny robins that had been pecking at the wood porch around her to fly away in a flurry of brown feathers and frightened chirps. Chell flinches and curls up, until she realizes how silly it was to be frightened by something so small and fragile as a robin.

The wood underneath her creaks with each movement and threatens to buckle and break under her. Chell can't quite remember why she decided to sleep here for the night. She could have easily just gone inside, the house looked abandoned after all, but something told her it wouldn't be so cold that night, and to her surprise it wasn't. She stands up, the porch creaking with age again, and dusts herself off. Her hair has fallen out of its simply ponytail and she can feel the wisps of hair tickle the bare skin on her back. She doesn't mind it, but searches for the lost elastic band anyways in hopes of keeping the unwashed locks of hair out of and away from her face.

Her search ends quickly in disappointment though as she can see the elastic had fallen through a small crack in the wood of the porch. With a defeated sigh, she turns towards her Companion Cube and shrugs at it; her way of saying "oh well".

She scoops up the giant cube and skips down the steps of the abandoned house, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the heel of her free hand. She can't describe the excitement she's feeling as she jogs farther into the town. Her heart beats faster with the thought that she'll finally meet someone. Perhaps she could finally find a place to live, a house with a working bathroom and running water and food that isn't dried wheat or canned beans. Her mouth waters at the thought of food and her stomach grumbles, but she ignores it and continues on.

It's not long before all her hopes are forgotten and Chell realizes with sad disappointment that the town is, in fact, abandoned. As she steps into the main square, hand shielding her eyes from the sunlight, she sighs silently. The windows of the buildings are boarded up and the streets are cracked and decaying slowly - the only sign of life are the plants and grasses that grow and slowly take over the crumbling asphalt beneath her feet. She sets the cube down gently and pats it affectionately, she'll come back for it when she's found a good place to set up camp and finds some supplies.

Chell begins her day long search in the town square, sifting through debris and run-down shops and boutiques for anything useful. She breaks down the door to a very fancy looking boutique she recognizes as a well known clothing store. She pauses to stare at the beautiful summer dresses that are being displayed in the front window and she feels something. Chell can't quite explain it, it's like she's been to this store before, like at one point in time, way before Aperture, she had spent time in this store trying on dresses and making cute faces and poses into the mirror.

Stepping inside, the atmosphere the store had advertised outside quickly changes. The store is small and cramped, dust covers everything and most of the clothes that hang from the racks are tattered and moth-eaten. Every window is blocked or barricaded, as if the people who were here last wanted to keep something from getting only light comes from the giant front window where the two mannequins stay frozen in time with their cute dresses and fancy looking accessories on, casting long thin shadows across the store. Chell shivers, even though the air is rather warm today, and steps over a pile of splintered wood and rubble.

Chell almost feels nostalgic looking around, but there is an overwhelming sense of discomfort that hovers over her as she begins picking through the clothing, searching for anything that isn't going to disintegrate with one touch. She knows something awful must have happened here. Something cruel and dark, beyond any imagination. She feels like she's being watched, something she was used to in Aperture, but now, here in the open, free world, it just seems... wrong.

Not wanting to spend another second in the boutique, Chell sprints back into the streets with her findings; two pairs of shorts, a sweater and three t-shirts. Panting heavily, she jogs back to the cube and sets the clothing down on top of the cube. She takes one last look at the small boutique, a hint of remorse in her eyes as she contemplates whether it was really okay for her to take those things from the shop but quickly returns to her task at hand.

Food. Shelter. Those are much more important than clothing. She scolds herself mentally for wasting an hour or so in the boutique and quickly heads across the square to a large store with a grimy falling apart sign that reads "Food M rt". The "a" in mart is missing and the windows are plastered with signs saying how low the prices were for fresh fruit and meat as well as various other household products. Chell stops in front of it and smiles as her stomach growls softly. The wheat she had eaten earlier hadn't quite sufficed and she hoped, no prayed, that there was at least something left that was edible inside.

Getting inside proves to be difficult though, as the only means of getting inside require the use of automatic doors that run on electricity. Chell huffs grumpily, knowing very well the electricity probably isn't working right now. She tries looking around for an easier fire escape or door that doesn't require any electricity but to no avail. Finally, in a fit of rage and determination, Chell grabs the largest, heaviest thing she can find - a large brick from a pile of rubble near the building next door - and uses all her strength to fling it into the glass doors of the supermarket. It crashes through, sending an ominous echo throughout the square and Chell watches the tiny shatters of glass, sharp and each one unique like snowflakes, drop to the floor.

Chest heaving and sweat dripping from her forehead, Chell smiles as she gently ducks through the hole she's created in the door and is thankful she's wearing Long Fall Boots rather than just having the Knee Replacements she once had in Aperture as her feet are now protected from the shards of glass that litter the floor around her. Quickly standing tall, the brunette rushes into the store, stomach still growling like a ravaging beast.

The smell, Chell decides, is the worst and first thing she discovers about the place. The mixture of rotting meat, fish, fruit and vegetables hits her like the brick she just threw into the door. She begins to cough, covering her nose and mouth with the neck of her Aperture Science standard testing tank top as if the thin layer of cloth will somehow filter the stench that practically drips off the shelves. She squints, her almond shaped grey eyes piercing through the dark of the store. She wishes she had a flashlight or lighter or _something_ that would be able to light her way.

The only light comes through the tiny line of slit-like windows at the front of the store where the cash registers are all lined up. The light casts an eerie glow on the aisles, and as the dust particles swirl elegantly in the air, Chell makes her way through the store as best she can.

She stops at the edge of an aisle and squints to read the list of products hanging above it through the tiny ray of light casting down on it. Chell shakes her head swiftly, deciding baking supplies are not something she needs - not at this moment at least. She continues to the next aisle, and the next and so on until she stops in front of aisle 9.

Canned goods. That's what the sign says. Chell bites her lip, a subtle wish that the store hasn't been raided completely, and she bounds down it and into pitch darkness.

The back of the store, and she really doesn't know why she thought it wouldn't be any different, is considerably darker than the front of the store. Chell has never really feared the dark, but for some odd reason she can't shake the feeling that someone - something - is watching here too. Chell stays close to the shelves, blending in with the environment like she would when sneaking around Aperture. She takes a few steps forward, deeper into the dark before freezing up completely when she steps on something that makes a rather loud crushing noise.

Her heart stops dead and adrenaline pulses through her as the noise echos through the long aisles. Slowly and cautiously, Chell leans down and feels around for the source of the noise. Her fingers caress a soft, crumpled material that feels almost slippery in her hands. At first, she instantly wanted to drop it, thinking she had picked up a chunk of rotting meat, but upon further inspection she realizes it is not anything dead at all, but rather a plastic shopping bag. Chell sighs and relaxes, her previous fear now just a silly overreaction. She decides to bring the bag along with her to keep her findings in.

Chell continues further into the depths of darkness, feeling her way to the canned goods. Once she finds them, she begins tossing them into her plastic bag one by one, she doesn't care what is inside, so long as it's edible. There isn't a lot of cans left, only the dented ones, which Chell remembers a myth she once heard that eating canned food from a dented can could cause cancer. Chell never really believed in that myth, and she can't remember where she heard it from, so she decides to risk it and packs as many cans she can into the bag, making sure not to let it stretch and break under the weight.

She's about to place the last can in her bag when a gust of cold air whips past her, making her drop the can in fear. Chell decides its time to leave and rushes out of the supermarket the way she came, her bag of cans in tow.

She charges towards the cube and stops dead in her tracks when she reaches it, falling over it and clinging to it. Her bag of cans tumbles to the ground and its contents start to roll every which way. Chell catches her breath before cooing softly to the cube, she feels safer when its nearby.

Chell stays knelt down clinging to her cube for a few minutes, she wishes she didn't have to depend on the cube to feel safe but she doesn't care right now. After a few moments, she looks up to see the sky is getting darker. Chell has spent the entire day searching for supplies and now she needs a place to sleep for the night.

She scrambles to get up and collect her things, her feet are aching from running around all day and she wishes she could just collapse in the middle of the street. Before her freedom, relaxing would have been considered a rarity. Chell couldn't stop for a moment when she was in Aperture or she'd likely be killed. She frowns, disappointed that she's gone soft already and wants nothing more than to peel her tired feet out of her boots and sleep someplace warm for the night.

There is a large house just on the other side of the square, it's an old victorian style home with a large wrap around porch and three stories tall with a beautiful alcove. The paint is peeling and the fences are all rusty but for some reason in the dimming sunlight Chell finds it wonderful. She gathers her belongings and caries them over to the house.

There is an old, dusty plaque by the door that reads in large silver lettering the word Mayor and a short description of who built the house and the history of the house in Littleton. Chell finds it slightly amusing that every mayor since had lived there and she makes sure to read the plaque in its entirety. Chell has missed reading, she vaguely remembers reading tons of books as a child.

The inside of the house looks much better than the outside, having been remodeled once or twice over the years. It seems as though other survivors had been here before her too and Chell can't help but get excited at the thought. Chell settles herself in the living room, where a large, ugly green couch sits against one wall across from a large, smashed in television. The room is painted an awful yellow and the carpet is a terrible blue-ish green colour and is matted with fur and dirt and dried mud. Chell doesn't seem to mind though, and drops her belongings in front of the television.

The curtains covering the windows are slowly falling apart, but let the slowly disappearing sunlight filter in quite nicely, casting the room in a soft yellow-y glow. Chell settles herself on the couch, which although old and worn out, is still much more comfortable than anything else she'd ever slept on before. She sighs happily and kicks off her Long Fall boots, wiggling her toes in the air as she stretches across the couch. She watches the sun set through the windows and falls asleep with the cube sitting beside her on the floor next to the couch.

~x~

It's silent in the early morning. The only sound is Chell's soft breathing as she sleeps. The air is chilly and she shivers and rolls over, trying to find a warmer spot on the couch. Her eyes slide open slowly and she eventually gives up, the morning sunlight filling the room and causing Chell to squint. She rolls onto her back and glances down at the Companion Cube, its pink hearts giving off a faint pink glow. She smiles and pats it gently before getting up and shuffling over to her bag of cans and pile of clothes. She decides to wait until she finds a working shower before she changes clothes and instead grabs one of the cans she spent all day yesterday looking for. Luckily, its a pull tab topped can and she easily pries it open and dips her fingers into the thick, gooey soup and quickly sucks it off her fingers. She is rather sick of soup and beans, but for now it will do as she has no other source of food.

She finishes the can quickly, patting her belly with satisfaction afterwards. Today, she has decided, she will explore the other side of town. Perhaps she'll find something of interest. More food or a useful tool. Whatever the case, Chell decides she'll use the Mayor's house as a sort of camp as she doesn't get the weird being-watched feeling she gets anywhere else in the town and leaves behind her Cube and the cans of food.

She slips on and tightens her Long Fall boots, not very happy to be needing them again but she doesn't want to hurt her feet. She bounds out of the house and towards the other side of town, where a large, building sits only five or six blocks away. Chell could tell the building was once a nice bright white, but now the colour is a mixture of grays and browns and greens from the greenery that has overgrown and covered most of the building. She notices a sign behind the vines and curiously approaches the building. Chell tries to decipher what the sign reads but the weeds and vines are too thick for her to read it correctly.

She decides to enter.

The glass doors are heavy as she pushes against them, having to use all her body weight to get them open. But she notices there are no other windows anywhere on the building. Once inside, the overall feeling of being watched is intensified. Everything is white and although slightly dusty instantly reminds her of the cold test chambers in Aperture. Chell's automatic instinct is to turn around and walk out of the place, but she forces herself to stay, lying to herself to make her feel more comfortable.

She finds herself in a lobby - there is a receptionist's desk, white of course, and behind it a huge painting is covered with a canvas sheet. Chell thinks its best to leave everything alone and walks quickly past a sort of waiting room area with tipped over white sofas and a black vending machine with only expired goodies left inside of it.

There is a long hallway on one side of the reception desk leading to what looks to be another large lobby on the other side of the building. Along the hall there are elevators, all closed and dead looking but there is one elevator that has its lights on. Curious as ever, Chell tip-toes down the hall to the one working elevator and presses the button to go up. It is quiet for a few moments then all of a sudden the elevator shudders to life and makes its noisy way down to the main floor. Chell grabs hold of a nearby chair as the elevator makes the whole floor rumble before opening its doors with a deafening screech and cheerful bell.

After a moment, Chell cautiously steps into the elevator and glances at the numbers. She counts them; one, two, three... nineteen, twenty, twenty-one... there have to be at least thirty floors. Chell presses a few but none seems to work. She notices that one is blinking bright yellow; floor 10. She wonders if perhaps there are survivors living on the tenth floor. Perhaps people who are willing to let her join them. She presses the button for the tenth floor and the elevator doors screech closed. Chell immediately is taken back to her days in Aperture when the elevators were rickety and terrifying. She huddles up to the wall and prays that this elevator won't give out on her.

With an earth shaking shudder, the elevator begins moving slowly up to the tenth floor. Chell watches the cracked display go through the floors; floor 2, floor 3, floor 4, and on and on until after about ten minutes it finally arrived at floor 10. Another earth shaking shudder and blood curdling screech of its doors and the elevator opens up to another long hallway of elevators. Chell runs out into the hallway, swearing to herself never to ride in an elevator again after today. The elevator stays open, its doors sparking slightly as it waits for its next command.

Chell glances back at it only for a moment before rushing off down the hallway towards the bright light of day. She is disappointed to find though, that what she thought were windows are actually lamps, styled to look like windows overlooking a beautiful mountainous landscape. The lamps go all the way down another long hallway where what look to be many offices and storage rooms are and often the motif is repeated, clearly revealing the illusion. Chell sighs, but decides to explore more.

There is one door at the very end of the hall that catches her attention first. Although she'd like to spend time searching each and every room one by one, Chell just can't shake the feeling she's being watched and wants nothing more than to get out as soon as she can. She sprints towards the door, which she can see is larger and made of metal rather than wood like the others, and skids to a stop in front of it.

There is a tiny number pad on one side of the door, the little light flashes red- locked. Chell notices that this must have been a very useful room as the numbers to the combination are almost worn off. A sly smile creeps upon her lips as she punches in a combination; 2467. A loud buzzer and the flashing red light stays the same. Chell's smile turns into a quick frown, but she tries again changing the numbers around. She tries again and again until after a few minutes she punches in the right combo; 7462. The red light flickers to green and a soft "beep beep beep" indicates the door is unlocked. Chell smiles to herself and pulls open the heavy metal doors.

What Chell finds inside causes her to gasp in horror.

The room is large and white and brightly lit. Chell can count a hundred, maybe two hundred relaxation pods, just like the one she woke from so long ago, stacked in some sort of mechanism. The Aperture logo, stark black and huge, stands out against the pure white of the wall opposite of her. Chell lets out a silent scream and turns to leave. She pushes and pulls frantically on the doors but they won't budge, they must have relocked after she had gone inside. She's trapped, in an Aperture building and it all makes sense to her now. Panicking, she looks around frantically for an alternative escape route.

There! Across the large room is a door with an exit sign above it. Scrambling towards it, Chell weaves her way through the pods, which upon closer look she realizes are not relaxation pods but rather some sort of cryogenic sleep pods. She tears her eyes away, having seen one with a small child in it; her eyes open and a look of sheer terror on her face - frozen for who knows how long. Chell's anxiety worsens now and she speeds up, she wants nothing to do with Aperture anymore and could care less about who these people are and what they are doing here.

She's about twenty feet away from the exit. She can almost feel GLaDOS staring at her like she had in the test chambers. Chell's heart is pumping loudly in her ears and she's anticipating the cold, sultry voice to start shouting at her at any moment. She leaps towards the exit. She's nearly there when she trips over some old equipment lying on the floor and crashes into one of the pods, her hand accidentally smashing into a button of the control pad. She quickly regains herself and continues towards the exit when she hears a loud hissing noise.

Turning back to look at the pod she just crashed into, Chell watches in wide-eyed terror as the pod comes to life; lights flashing, smoke hissing from the cryogenic chamber as it cracks open. It's like a scene from a sci-fi movie. Chell begins to step back, trying to keep her distance from the pod. She watches as the figure inside twitches.

She keeps stepping back, trying her hardest to pull herself away from the scene. She's not looking where she's going and the next thing she knows she's fallen on her backside, staring up at the pod with eyes wide and mouth agape like the poor, helpless, beautiful woman in a horror film. Chell wants nothing more than to get up and run as far away as possible, but something about watching the pod open up slowly and the person inside come back to life tells her to stay. She will admit, she's slightly curious to see what happens, but her instinct tells her to run.

Slowly, smoke starts billowing out from the pod and crashes to the ground in silent waves. Noises erupt from the control panel and lights flare bright reds, greens and blues. The Aperture logo looms over them in the distance, mocking Chell as she tries desperately to tear her eyes away from the scene.

The half-egg shaped glass of the pod lifts up completely now, Chell shields her eyes and nose from the foul smell and strange bright light that emulates from the pod now. The figure inside slowly twitches and comes back to life, thawing out from years of being frozen. If Chell had a voice, she'd have been screaming at the top of her lungs. She watches as the figure slowly rises and she panics more.

The figure makes eye contact, and Chell can now see that it is a man, tall with sandy brown hair and big, bright, deep blue eyes. Chell crawls backwards a bit, the colour of his eyes are so familiar... It's almost as if she's seen him before.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Fun Fact! The aperture building is based on a real life building here where I live called the Toronto Dominion Centre or the Mies Van Der Roe Building. I hate it with a passion because I had to draw it about 3.5 million times last year in my classes. Also fun fact! I was listening to Silent Hill soundtracks whilst writing/editing this. The "Reverse Mill" from Silent Hill 2 to be exact. Check it out, it goes really well.


	4. Chapter 3: Nothing as you Expected

**Chapter three: Nothing as you expected**

The man hunches over and retches onto the ground, a sickly blue-green liquid expels from him and splatters onto the concrete floor. He clutches onto the egg-shaped pod, his legs collapsing underneath him from having not been used in a while. Chell watches with wide-eyed terror as he raises his head weakly to look at her again.

He wipes the rest of the sick from his mouth with his forearm. Chell can see now he isn't wearing clothing and his thin, lanky body is shivering violently. Another weak smile flashes across his lips, genuine and happy to see her and he reaches out to her, still leaning against the cryo-pod for support. His mouth tries slowly to form words, but his voice hisses and cracks in his throat.

A squeak erupts from Chell, still terrified of what she is witnessing and she finally gains the courage to scramble up to her feet. There is an awkward moment that lasts about a minute as she makes eye contact with the strange but familiar man again. She tries to figure out who he is, but she can't. He lunges towards her, his voice hoarsely calling to her in a muffled cacophony of whines and moans. The sudden movement scares her, and she dashes towards the fire exit.

Adrenaline pumping through her, Chell reaches the exit and high-kicks the door open. She takes a quick glance back at the man; he's rising to his feet now and slowly stumbling in her direction. Chell screeches, or at least tries to, before running down the first of what looked like hundreds of flights of stairs. She runs down the stairs and reaches the ninth, eighth, seventh floor doors when she hears the door she had burst through open again. She glances up quickly to see the man leaning over the railings, looking down at her and again trying to call to her. Panicking, Chell remembers quickly that she's wearing her Long Fall Boots...

She climbs over the railing just as the man starts to descend the stairs, She notices he's found an old lab coat to drape over his frail frame, she takes a deep breath, counts to three and jumps down the staircase shaft.

"NO WAIT!" The man manages to scream, though she can hardly hear it through the rushing noise of air in her ears.

She lands safely, with a soft _thump_ from the heel springs on her boots, on the third floor landing, which seems to be a corridor leading to the last of the fire escape system. From the looks of the building, it seems the top set of floors had been added on later. Chell takes a quick glance up to check on the man chasing her. She quickly notes he is nearing the sixth floor, having panicked and scrambled in a sad attempt to stop her from risking her life. He's panting like a dog in the summer heat and he's slowed to the point of shuffling awkwardly down the stairs. Chell tries her hardest to suppress the giggle that wants to desperately escape and turns to head onto the next set of staircases.

"Wait! Please! I don't want to hurt you, I promise," The man calls out between pants. His voice... Chell stops dead in her tracks, frozen to the spot. His voice has a very familiar accent. One that has haunted her dreams for the last few days.

She turns to give him a quick, suspicious look, he's now on the fourth floor, steadily making his way towards her. She hopes his voice was just a figment of her imagination, that he didn't _actually_ sound like the Aperture core that had betrayed her and forced her to test for his sick, almost perverted enjoyment. But then the man speaks again and her worst fear is confirmed.

"I just wanted to confirm something, when I first glanced at you... back up there," He points swiftly to the tenth floor, though Chell has her back turned again, "You looked... well you look like someone I know."

Chell's hand is hovering above the door handle as she softly lets out a tiny gasp. Her heart pounds faster in her chest and it's so quiet that she's terrified that even he could hear how fast its beating. Her hands are shaking and she needs to decide; fight or flight? The age old question of Darwin's natural selection. Chell decides, and with a quick flick of her wrist, the door is flung open and she flies down the remaining steps.

A million thoughts start running through her mind, something she wasn't quite used to while testing in the underground facility. She focuses on the task at hand; ridding herself of the man behind her. Her legs pump quickly as she throws open a door and finds herself in the lobby again. Sighing, relieved that she can simply just walk out of the building now and leave him far behind her, she begins slowly walking towards the exit.

"Would you please stop running away from me? It's not very polite, is it now?" The bristol dialect chimes again, this time dangerously close. Chell squeaks and spins around, fingers automatically wrapping around an invisible trigger, only to realize she doesn't have the portal gun anymore.

He's only a foot or two away, and now she can see the delicate details of his figure. He's about six foot four, maybe five, and she can see his ribcage through his skin under the baggy lab coat. Delicate little lines stretch across his face, making him look a lot older than he probably is. The sandy brown hair has streaks of grey throughout, barely noticeable in the sunlight pouring through the glass doors behind Chell. She figures he's got to be in his thirties, perhaps his early forties. She backs away from him slowly, only to have him step towards her, his large, flat feet slapping against the linoleum.

A wide grin stretches across his face as he stares into her grey eyes. "It is you! Oh man alive! I knew it was you! Thank God, did they hurt you? You're in testing gear, so I assume they had you testing. Oh you don't know how happy I am to see you! I've missed you so much!" At this point, the man had dropped to his knees and had pulled Chell into a tight hug, burying his face into her stomach, his words muffled by her testing uniform. "I thought I'd never see you again. You don't know how happy I am right now, Luv' thank God you're safe! Oh brilliant this is wonderful! Just brilliant!"

Chell raises her hands, not sure whether to believe what she's seeing and hearing and well, experiencing at the moment. Her brows knit in confusion as she looks down at the british man, who is now nuzzling his long nose into the folds of her tank top, grinning from ear to ear. She reaches down and pats his shoulder awkwardly, not sure what else to do. She doesn't feel comfortable, something seems off. Had she missed something? Is this supposed to be some sick joke GLaDOS was playing on her? A final torment from Aperture? She tries hard to think back to before Aperture again, but as hard as she tries, Chell can't remember anything. Sighing, she gives up and looks down at the man on his knees.

He's also looking up at her, his face twisted into a strange mixture of confusion and almost creepy happiness. Chell raises an eyebrow at him, but before she can do anything else he stands at his full height and leans towards her, his eyes closing slowly. Chell hunches slightly, afraid he's going to fall onto her, but before she can move out of his way, he wraps his large boney hands around her face and tilts her head up to his, crushing his lips against hers. She shrieks, her hands clasping around his wrists in an attempt to rip herself free from him. His lips taste strange, a mixture of sweet and savory and wet. She can also taste a hint of his vomit from earlier. She gags, and struggles free from him. He looks at her, confused for a moment and then... _WACK!_

"Oi! What was that for?" He yells, rubbing at the newly placed handprint on his cheek.

Chell glances around quickly for something to use for self defense. Frantically, she scoops up the closest thing and holds it out towards him at arms length in a threatening manner. She blushes slightly as she realizes that what she's picked up is actually just a wilted leaf from a dead plant.

"What's wrong luv'? Don't you recognize me? It's me, good ol' Wheatley. Your husband?" The man's face is contorted in a very severe look of confusion. Her worst fears confirmed, Chell shrieks again and begins crying.

Wheatley jumps and shrinks away from her, genuinely terrified that he has done something wrong. "What's wrong, Chell? D-did something happen that I'm not aware of? I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, whatever it is, I won't do it again."

Chell stops, the only noise coming from her suppressed sobs as she looks at him with disgust and fear. She tries to speak, the words coming out in hoarse whispers, "What did you just call me?"

It's all she can manage to say as her throat stings in pain. She had made a decision not to use her voice anymore yet here she was, whispering to this... man who's name is the same as the Core she assumes is still orbiting the moon right now.

Wheatley inches closer to her, slowly so as not to startle her. She's heaving and sobbing still as he takes her hands, gently in his own. "You're name is Chell, is it not?"

The girl sobs and nods her head quickly.

"Well, Chell, I'm your husband, remember? We got married. The wedding was on a beach... the first one of course, my parents ended up getting sort of ticked off that we eloped and forced us to have another wedding so the family could come. But its a really awful long story, you know how it all went, don't you luv'? You were there. Just one of those things you never forget. Hopefully. Not sure, think I had an aunt who forgot she was married once. Something about getting old? Alzheimer's, I think it's called. Anyways, the point is you came and found me! And now we can be together again! Just like old times!" He rambles on, his facial features stretching and changing as he goes on. It reminds her so much of the little round core it scares her.

When he looks back up at her he is met with a look of utter confusion. Chell slowly shrugs and shakes her head, she has no clue what he's talking about. Marriage? She doesn't remember being married. She opens her mouth as if to speak, but the last sentence she spoke as strained her voice enough, she gives up, just shaking her head in disbelief.

"You... you don't believe me? I proposed to you in front of your parents! W-we... My parents bought us a house! We met in this very town! I worked with your father, Chell you have to believe me, I'm not some loony ol' bloke! I'm your husband!" Wheatley cries desperately. He holds up his left hand to reveal his ring finger has one ring on it; a gold wedding band. "When I went into cryo-sleep I refused to remove it! That's how much I love you! You don't remember any of that?"

Chell shakes her head slowly and raises her own left hand, trembling with fear and anxiety, to show him that she doesn't have a ring on her finger. Wheatley stares at her fingers, worry and fear in his eyes. "No no, Chell, love, you have to be hiding it somewhere. You're joking with me. You've always been a playful little scamp. Naughty little tease, you are. Just, tell me where it is and we can go home."

The man begins patting her down, shoving his hands into the pockets on her jumpsuit and groping her, searching frantically for a ring that she's sure doesn't exist. Chell, feeling more than uncomfortable, shoves him away and glares angrily at him.

"I was just... never mind. If you don't have the ring, then they must have taken it from you. Guess we'll never get it back..." He sounds defeated, his shoulders hunch and he stares sadly at his feet, wrapping the lab coat tighter around him.

Chell almost feels sorry for him. It must be strange to wake up in a post-apocalyptic world only to find that the one person you thought you knew wasn't actually them. Chell's chest tightens as she feels guilty for disappointing him, she looks away, focusing on a vending machine a few feet away.

"You don't remember anything do you?" The question is rather sudden in the small amount of silence they shared and it startles Chell.

She wipes her eyes from the tears from before, hiccuping softly and shaking her head again. She can't remember anything before Aperture.

"They told me testing could cause brain damage... memory loss, that sort of thing. I didn't want to believe it... But you must be living proof, luv'" Wheatley almost whispers, looking up from his feet and into Chell's eyes again. "How else can I explain it? You obviously have some sort of memory loss. I'll just... I'll have to make it a plan to help you get your memories back, that's all. We can start from the very beginning again! It'll be... just like we're dating again. How's that sound, luv'? Sounds fun doesn't it?"

Chell's eyes widen and she smiles apologetically, she's not quite sure that's a good idea. She's still slightly frightened that he'll turn out like his core-self and try smashing her with giant spike plates. But considering he hasn't tried to hurt her yet, she decides to give him a chance. Silently, she makes a mental note to keep an eye on him, just in case.

"So what'll it be, luv'? Do you wanna give me a chance?" He asks, his eyes pleading and hopeful.

Chell hesitates, looking everywhere for a distraction or something to help her decide. She's still rather terrified, but she thinks back to when she was in the wheat fields, daydreaming. Wasn't it her goal to find someone to travel with? She sighs and nods slowly, mouthing a short response, "Yes, you can travel with me."

Wheatley's eyes light up, a smile as wide as the brooklyn bridge, showing off slightly crooked and yellowed teeth spreads across his face and he jumps towards her, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. He starts giving her soft tiny kisses all over her face, and she struggles, wiggling in his arms to try and free herself.

"Right, sorry..." He blushes and lets go, letting her straighten herself out before smiling again.

Chell quickly glares at him and points to him, balling her hand up in a fist. Wheatley flinches and nods softly, not exactly understanding the gesture. Chell makes a gesture that says she's keeping an eye on him, in case he's to do anything suspicious. Wheatley nods again, understanding this time, and tells her to lead the way.

~x~

He doesn't stop talking. Ever. His questions spill out like a waterfall; "Where are we going? Why don't you speak anymore? Do you think we could find some pants for me at least, not that i'm complaining, its just that my um... well I'm a little exposed... Where are all the people? What happened?" Chell tries her hardest to ignore them but she ends up trying to answer the more simpler ones, the ones she knows the answers to.

They stop at a men's clothing store before heading back to the mayor's house, Chell rummages through the piles of clothes left everywhere as Wheatley tells her the story of how his father bought him his first suit here. She listens half-heartedly before asking, in her own silent way, if he used to live in Littleton. Wheatley shakes his head and explains that his father owned a factory on the outskirts of town and that he only used to work here as an assistant to Chell's father at Aperture. Chell nods and tosses him a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt with a few holes in it.

"Your father was a good man, worked as a scientist in that Aperture building we just came from. Do you remember your parents at all?" He asks as he pulls on the jeans, hopping around so as not to lose his balance.

Chell shakes her head slowly and mouths, her voice barely a whisper, "I don't remember anything from... before."

"oh... right, well, I'll just have to remind you, that's all" He says, pulling the t-shirt over his head and smiling at her again. Chell can't help but crack a bit of a smile as well and nods softly, continuing to look for more clothes he can wear.

When they finish, Chell leads him towards the town square again and into the mayor's house. Wheatley jabbers on about the local history of the town and doesn't stop until he notices the sun is starting to set. Chell, who has been setting up a little camp site for them in the living room, doesn't seem to notice he's stopped talking.

He breaks the silence, "Chell? I'm... I'm a little hungry. Do you think we have anything to eat or have humans evolved into some sort of self-sustaining, don't need food like creatures?"

She suppresses a snort at his insane idea and nods, pointing to the bag of canned foods she had collected the day before. Chell walks into the hallway where Wheatley is standing. They stand for a moment, staring awkwardly at each other when Wheatley asks, "What have you done with your hair? It used to be short... really short. now it's all... wavy. I like it. I've never seen you without short hair."

Chell's face reddens as she realizes she hasn't had time to find another hair tie to use and that her hair has been loose and down the whole time. Panicking she runs up the stairs and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. No one has ever seen her with her hair down, or at least, that's what she thought. She had gotten so used to it being pulled up in a ponytail that she felt awkward with it falling around her face like this. She scrambles around the bathroom looking for anything that could tie her hair up, throwing open the cabinets and drawers in a panic. It isn't until she hears footsteps coming up the stairs and Wheatley knocking on the bathroom door that she realizes how silly she's acting.

"Are you alright in there Chell? Are you sick? Do you need any help? I'm here if you need me, just knock, seeing as your voice isn't what it used to be... um if you need help that is," His voice is muffled by the wood door.

Chell leans over the sink, wondering what has gotten into her. She would never lose her cool like that in Aperture, was she going soft so soon? She hesitates, then reaches over and taps the door once.

The door creaks as it opens slowly and Wheatley's goofy grin greets her. "What's wrong, luv'? Not feeling well?" He asks, opening the door all the way and stepping into the tiny bathroom. Chell's fists clench as she looks desperately for an exit, feeling trapped.

But before she can even do anything Wheatley wraps his arms around her gently, pulling her into a gentle hug and smoothing her hair with his hand. "C'mere, you're probably just hungry. Let's go eat, it's getting late."

Chell tenses up, wanting nothing more than to find a hair tie and go to sleep more than anything. She's not used to being so close to a human. She pats his back gently, trying to tell him she's okay and she doesn't really need his help. When he finally moves away, Chell just stands there, unsure of what to do.

And that scares her.

All the uncertainty of the last few hours, of the last few days, she just isn't used to it. But she remains emotionless, holding and bottling the feelings up so he won't ask. Chell watches him disappear down the stairs and waits in silence for a moment. She sighs and follows him, stomach growling.

They eat in silence, or semi silence as Wheatley seems to like to make little humming noises to fill the silence. Chell doesn't mind it and chews slowly, savoring the taste of the spaghetti-o's she's eating. The taste is tinny and metallic and she feels like spitting them out, but she knows she needs food. She needs something to fill the void in her stomach.

"What's this cube thing? Where'd you find it? Doesn't look anything like the weighted storage cubes I'm used to," Wheatley inquires through a mouthful of beans.

Chell shrugs and points to the ground. Wheatley gives her a confused look and she tries to explain using her voice again, "The facility. Aperture."

"Aperture gave you this?"

"Something like that..."

"Looks neat, but do you really need it?"

Chell shrugs again, she'd rather not talk about this. Instead she shovels another spoonful of the awful pasta into her mouth and chews, hoping he won't ask anymore questions. But of course, what else would she expect? He starts rambling on again.

"Why don't you talk much anymore? You used to be a very talkative person. Okay, I lied, you were quite shy and quiet, but you at least spoke a lot more than you do now. Heck sometimes if I was the only one around you wouldn't stop talking! Was it something in the facility? That reminds me, I've never been in the actual facility before. What was it like? Were the tests hard?"

Chell doesn't answer, instead she gives him a venomous glance, one that tells him not to talk about it. Wheatley tenses up and leans away, afraid she might try to hurt him.

"Alright alright, I get it, you don't want to talk about it. Bad experience, I'm guessing. Sorry you had to go through it. I'll stop," He apologizes, returning his spoon to his empty can. Chell nods her thanks and finishes off her can.

The sky is completely dark outside, the only light coming from the twinkling of the stars and the luminescent glow of the moon. Chell yawns and points at the makeshift bed she's made for Wheatley on the floor. Wheatley, looking confused again, points to himself and then to the bed. Nodding, Chell stands up and heads over to the couch.

"Oh we're not sleeping together?" Wheatley asks, his voice disappointed.

Chell shakes her head and lies down on the couch, her eyelids heavy.

"But I... never mind. Whatever you like..." Wheatley sighs, crawling into his makeshift bed and turning to face her.

Chell tries her hardest to wait for him to fall asleep first, not trusting him while she's vulnerable, but before long she finds herself drifting off, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well here's chapter three! Chapter four will be coming along soon. I'm still currently writing it. It's hard since right now I'm going through some... Personal things. I just hope you guys don't mind a bit of a wait. That's all. I know some of you waited quite a while between the prologue and the first chapter so hopefully no one will be mad at me for having to wait again. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy.


	5. Chapter 4: The Promise

**Chapter Four: The Promise**

"There's nothing you can do, Lady! You _refused_ to test for me, you blatantly disobeyed me and now... Now you're mine!" Wheatley's voice rings out. Chell feels the tightening grip of a metal claw around her neck. She wants nothing more than to scream at the top of her lungs but she can't because the metal claw is crushing her windpipe and she can hardly breathe let alone speak.

"Don't give me that look, you deserve this! You're a naughty little scamp and I won't have it!" His voice is dripping with a venomous tone as his optic sneers down at her. Chell tries her hardest to pull the claw off her, legs kicking furiously in attempt to rid herself of the machine. She's feeling lightheaded now, the lack of oxygen causing her eyesight to go blurry. All she can make out is his glowing blue optic and the iridescent white of the moon behind him. She bares her teeth angrily at him in attempt to threaten him.

"That little display of anger won't scare me, Lady. If I were you, I'd just give up now," He laughs maniacally, the claw tightening. But she won't give up, she'll never give up.

She opens her mouth and mouths to him, "Please, stop!" But he just laughs more as little black dots start to block her vision. She's dying and she can't help it, she gasps, trying to suck in air but only gets a mouthful of cold rainwater. She panics as his voice slowly fades away, everything going black.

"Goodbye, Chell..." He chimes, watching as her eyes widen at the sound of her name.

"Chell?! Chell! Chell wake-up sweetheart!"

Chell's eyes shoot open, only to be greeted with two deep blue eyes staring back at her and Wheatley - the human version of him, sighing with relief. "You were thrashing about! I thought you might have been possessed or something!" He explains before kissing her forehead. Chell glares angrily at him before pushing him away and sitting up.

Wheatley's eyes widen and he smiles apologetically, "Right, right... Sorry. I forgot. You just... You looked pretty upset while you were sleeping, Luv'. Care to tell me what you were dreaming about?" He leans in closer, but makes sure to keep his distance so as not to upset her more than she already is.

Chell shakes her head and places her feet on the floor, preparing to stand up. But she's stopped when the tall man sits down next to her and takes her hands in his. Chell gives him another venomous glare, she's not comfortable with him being so touchy-feely. Not after everything she's been through. He gives her another awkward smile and pats her hand.

"I... I'll stop when you've told me what's been bothering you. You acted strangely yesterday when I first spoke to you too. Wouldn't have a clue why. You've never been scared of me before. So I'm asking you nicely, Chell, tell me what's wrong?" There's a sort of fatherly tone to his voice and his eyes are wide and sincere, worried even. Chell bites her lip, afraid he'll lash out at any moment. "You don't have to speak... I noticed you don't speak much anymore... again, don't exactly know why, but whatever the case is, I'm sure you'll speak eventually. Once you remember things again."

Chell stares at him blankly. He's rambling on again, distracted by his own train of thought. He reminds her so much of his core-self, it's literally tearing at her heart. She can't trust him. She just can't. He'll go mad, he'll hurt her, he'll try to kill her like his core-self had. Chell shifts away from him and pulls her hands away from his.

"Hmm?" Wheatley looks up at her, confused. "Oh Chell don't do that, Luv' I guess I did sort of get off the beaten track... Thing is, you can tell me anything! That's right, Anything! You can put all your trust in me now. I won't hurt you, I promise," He grins goofily at her, creases forming at the corners of his eyes as he flashes his teeth at her. Chell lets out a small huff of laughter, cheeks flushing and sighs.

"What was the dream about, Luv'?" He presses on.

Chell looks down at her hands in her lap, her expression a mixture of sadness and fear. She doesn't want to tell him she was dreaming about the Core version of him. She doesn't want to tell him the pain she went through in Aperture. She wants to put those days behind her, but it's hard when the man sitting next to her is the human version of her tormentor.

"You," She finally mutters, voice barely a whisper. She looks up to gauge his reaction only to see instead of a look of surprise, she's met with a very grave look.

"Me? What about me?" His voice is taking on a very dark tone, similar to his Core's voice when first attached to the chassis.

She shrinks back, frightened by his sudden change in demeanor and nods. "In... In Aperture..." She begins fiddling with her fingers, a nervous habit of hers. "There was a core... The Intelligence Dampening Sphere. He had your voice... Your mannerisms, everything." Her throat is now sore, but she wants to tell him. He has a right to know.

She watches Wheatley's facial expressions change as she retells the story. How she woke up in Aperture and defeated GLaDOS, only to be dragged back in and have to do it all over again, but with Wheatley. By the end of her story her throat feels like a thousand knives have been jabbed into it and she can barely talk again, but at least now he knows.

"I... They made my brain map into a... a... a _moron core_?" Wheatley complains, burying his face into his hands. Chell doesn't know whether to comfort him or not. "That's all I was to them. The lowly moron assistant. I was never respected there..."

Chell can feel her heart breaking. He seems so... sad. Disappointed even. She shrugs and stands up, wanting nothing more than to get back outside and search for more supplies and hopefully some other survivors. She still doesn't trust him enough to comfort him, for all she knows he could be faking it.

"Where are you going, Luv'?" He asks immediately. His eyes watch her intensely, wide and lost like a small child. He sits up and watches her walk over to the Cube. Chell gives it a quick pat before pointing to the front door.

"O-outside? B-but... Oh alright then. Dunno what we're going to do out there, Luv' . There's no one around anymore... Still don't know where they all went."

Chell rolls her eyes, stretching again and striding over to the door. She shoots him a look, as if to ask "are you coming or not?", and heads out on to the porch. She can hear him scrambling to follow her and in less than a minute he's standing beside her, dopey smile smeared across his face again.

Chell stands and admires the cool morning air, taking in a deep breath and savoring the earthy scent of dirt and grass. She can feel Wheatley staring at her, his eyebrows arched in confusion. She ignores him, cherishing her freedom for the moment before hoping down the steps towards the main square.

"Um, not to be a bother Chell dear, but um... What exactly are we going to do here? If the whole place is abandoned, why not just leave? Seems rather pointless to stay here, doesn't it?" He's following her like a lost little puppy. A very chatty, lost little puppy. Scratch that, a _tall_, skinny, chatterbox is following her closely, and she doesn't know if that's a good thing or not.

Chell sighs and shrugs, not knowing exactly why she's still here either. She just knows that she should find some more supplies before setting out on the road again. She doesn't look at him as they walk into the town square, her feet are already sore from the boots, but she's dealt with worse. Food. That is their main priority. They were going to need a lot more than just a few cans of spaghetti-o's to get them to...

Well, where were they going? Chell ponders this as she heads towards the supermarket from a few days ago. Although she didn't want to step foot in it again, she decides that Wheatley could be a lookout for her in case something went wrong. Chell stops in front of the hole in the glass door and points at it.

"Hmm? Oh, you think we should go in there? Well, if that's what you want," Wheatley chatters on, ducking down and slipping through the door.

Chell follows him and is instantly hit by the awful stench of rotting produce again. She covers her mouth and nose, face scrunching up into a disgusted look as she glances over to see what Wheatley's reaction to it is.

"Smells right awful in here, doesn't it? What're we doing here anyways, Chell?" He asks, same disgusted look on his face.

She laughs silently and points to the logo on a tipped over shopping cart. "Food, we need more food," She strains her voice, it's still very weak from her grand speech that morning.

Wheatley instantly shushes her, "No, no. I understand now, Luv'. No need to strain yourself for me."

Chell gives him a small smirk and heads down the aisles, looking for the canned goods again. The store is a little brighter due to being so early in the morning, but Chell can't be thankful enough for that. It made it much easier to see. She scoops up a couple of plastic bags from the cashes before heading down the aisle with all the canned goods, listening to Wheatley ramble on about how she used to work in a store not far from this supermarket. She listens half-heartedly, still not believing that they knew each other before Aperture.

"It was an old clothing store. Sold... um... Not sure, you called it... what was it... Ah yes, vintage! Old rags from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Horrible time the 80s. All the things we had to worry about. Well not us. We were just kids back then... Well you were a baby. I was a kid... My parents never could get over the age difference between us..." Wheatley rambles on, not paying attention to their surroundings.

Chell stops filling her bags with cans to arch an eyebrow at him. Age difference? Well he _did_ look much older than her. She wonders how much of an age difference and cocks her head to the side as if to ask. Wheatley beams down at her, obviously understanding the gesture.

"Yeah that's right! I'm a good 5 years older. When... When you signed up for testing and... and they asked me to do the brain map thingy, you were 28. I was about 33. Maybe 34. Wouldn't have a clue how old I am now.. haha, Guess it doesn't matter now though does it?"

Chell blinks, seemingly unamused and goes back to filling the bags with cans. Wheatley lets out a huff of anger and bends down to force her to look at him. Chell rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, as if telling him she's only going to listen if he hurries up.

"Now listen here Chell, I know this is a lot to take in. Considering your brain damage or amnesia or whatever, but I _am_ your husband. You have to believe me!" He begs. He sounded annoyed and desperate, like his whole life depended on her believing his stories. Chell almost feels sorry for him.

Almost.

She shoots him a nasty look and picks up her bags, shoving one or two of them into Wheatley's hands. He fumbles around slightly, trying to keep hold onto the bags, before watching her waltz past him and back out the way they came. He follows her, of course, ranting and rambling on almost angrily as she heads back towards the middle of the square.

"Your name is Chell Brooke! The Brooke part is because you married me! That's our last name! Your parents divorced when you were little! My parents bought us a bloody house for God's sake! Fuck, all of our belongings are probably still cooped up in the old place!" He seems livid, throwing his hands up in the air as he talks and mouth gaping widely. Chell finds the sight comical, but suppresses the giggle so as not to upset him further. She doesn't know if he'll get violent.

"Alright alright, calm down!" Chell manages to say, voice aching.

Wheatley instantly stops, his whole body relaxes and he smiles again, calming down almost completely. "You believe me now?" He asks, eyes lighting up with hope.

She shakes her head and sighs. "No. I can't believe you. It's too..." But her voice trails off as she sees the disappointment in his eyes. Another sigh escapes her already sore throat and her shoulders slump. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Alright, If you can prove we were married - and not just showing off a ring on your finger - then I'll believe you."

That's enough talking she thinks, she could barely make out that last few words of that sentence. But Wheatley's eyes light up instantly and he pulls her into a rib-crushing hug. Chell lets out a tiny squeak, trying hard not to use her voice but at the same time trying to get his attention again.

Wheatley pulls away, smiling from ear to ear. "Oh Luv', I have the perfect idea! We'll go back to our house! I'll show you all our wedding pictures, the marriage certificate, everything! That'll prove we're married right?"

Chell, wide-eyed from the shock of the sudden hug, nods quickly.

"See?! Perfect! It's only two or three towns to the west of here. I promise you I'l-"

Wheatley is interrupted by the look he's getting from Chell. "What is it Chell? Something wrong?"

"You don't keep your promises," she mouths. At least, the core version of him didn't, why would he be any different?

"Y-yes I do! I... Remember that time I promised to take the garbage out and I did? Oh maybe that's a bad example, you don't remember anything..." He starts to wring his hands worriedly. "Please Chell, just... just this once alright, Luv'? You have complete permission to beat the bloody hell out of me if I don't follow through."

Chell's shoulders slump again as she thinks about his offer. On one hand it'll give him something to do; distract him while she planned for anything that might happen. And on the other it would give her something to do. It didn't seem like anyone was around for miles, so of course she'd go along with him, as annoying as he could get he was company - he was human. And that accounted for a lot considering the years of solitude spent underground.

Chell shrugs and nods again, agreeing with his idea. She watches as his eyes light up with happiness again and he throws his hands up in a dramatic way.

"Oh brilliant! Yes! This.. This is just, wonderful! We... we should find transportation... Not sure if any of the cars around here will work though, look a little too rusty and old don't they? Maybe the old train station? Not sure... probably hasn't been a train come through these parts in awhile huh?" He asks, looking around at the deserted town. "Strange how they'd all just up and leave when there's people still in cryo-pods back in the Aperture building..."

Chell shudders and points to her feet. They'll have to walk it. Not like it will be a big deal or anything, she's made it to Littleton on her own, she's sure they could walk it. It may take them a lot longer, but Chell was willing to do it.

"Right... We'll probably have to walk it, won't we? Well it's got to be a good two or three day trip on foot. Are you sure? We could find a car..."

Chell shakes her head. She's not sure if she should trust him behind the wheel of a car and she can't for the life of her remember if she even knew how to drive. Wheatley's smile instantly flips into a deep set frown.

Giggling silently, she pats his shoulder and mouths, "It won't be that bad. Trust me."

"Well if you insist... Although you do look like you've lost weight already. Did they feed you down there? Looks like you've been working out though... Uh, um, n-not that I was... Heh, _looking_ or anything I - I.. I just noticed it, that's all," A sheepish grin spreads across his face as he looks away, hand reaching up to shield his eyes from looking at her. "N-not that you weren't beautiful b-before. Y-you always were a stunning woman."

Chell rolls her eyes and starts heading back to the mayor's house. Her plans are to drop everything off and then go hunting for a satchel or backpack to carry it all in. That way it will leave her hands free in case she needs to defend herself... Or carry the Companion Cube.

Wheatley, of course, follows.

A quick pit stop and more blabbering from Wheatley and Chell finds herself outside a camping supply outlet on the edge of town near the large Aperture building. Wheatley is too busy blabbering on about how his father hated camping but he didn't really mind it to notice Chell pick the lock and slide into the store with barely a sound.

"Do you really think we should be sneaking around here Luv'? I mean, we could always just wait until tomorrow to get... wait, what are we getting?" Wheatley asks as he follows her into the store. Chell could really use some peace and quiet now, but she just rolls her eyes and points to the section of the store where all the hiking bags are hung up on the wall to display.

"Oh. Right," And that's the end of that.

She digs through the various bags, looking for one that won't be too large or heavy, but also one that will hold all the supplies they had found earlier that day. It only takes her about half an hour to find one thats both comfortable and practical. Wheatley, who has slowly been dosing off as Chell searches for the perfect bag, wakes with a jolt when she pokes him and gestures to the door to go.

Once back at the Mayor's house, Chell begins packing in silence. Wheatley is sitting on the couch, watching her intensely with his brilliant blue eyes. The room is cast in a dirty orange glow and there's a sort of awkward tension filling the room that makes Chell feel uncomfortable; like she's being forced to put on a show for him, like he's undressing her with his eyes. She stops packing and glares angrily at him, her way of telling him to cool it. Wheatley shrinks back into the couch and looks away, chuckling nervously.

She shoves the last of the cans into the bag and stands up, testing the weight of the bag. It's not very heavy at all, which is good because they'll be walking for quite awhile. She notices Wheatley is staring at her again, this time more innocently and less... seductively. In this lighting, with the sun slowly setting behind him, it reminds her so much of the eerie red glow that filled the central chamber in Aperture, his blue eyes almost glowing. Chell gives off a small shudder and points to the makeshift bed she's made for him.

"Can't we sleep together tonight?" He asks. To her, its more like a whine.

She shakes her head no.

"Please? Just... try? I won't try anything funny! I promise!" He pleads.

She shakes her head no and her brows knit in anger.

He sighs, standing up and walking slowly towards the pile of blankets and cushions on the floor. "Can I ask you something Luv'?"

Chell sighs and waves her hand for him to go on.

"Are you going to be taking that giant cube thing with you tomorrow? Seems rather silly to me. Useless isn't it?"

Chell turns to look at her cube, pink hearts glowing weakly in the dim light. She shrugs and smiles warmly at it.

"Why do you like it so much? Doesn't it remind you of the torture you had to go through down there?" He asks, voice slightly venomous, as if he's trying to hide his jealousy.

"It's just a cube..." She says through raspy whisper. Her heart pounds faster in her chest as she recognizes that tone in his voice. It's the same maniacal, impatient tone his Core form used when he became resistant to the euphoria.

"Yeah... You're right, Luv' I'm sorry. It's rather irrational of me to get jealous of a damn cube..." He chuckles again and sits down in the makeshift bed.

Chell looks down at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion. Is he trying to make her jealous? Because it certainly isn't working. She watches as he smiles up at her leaning back and resting on his elbows. She lets out a frustrated sigh and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Fine. I'll get rid of it," She mutters under her breath. She didn't know if she could though, something about the cube was comforting and she would never admit it, but she really enjoyed its company. But she knows Wheatley won't shut up about it if she didn't at least move it into a different room.

"It just gives me the creeps that you like that thing so much. It's just a hunk of metal," He explains sheepishly.

A minute later, the cube sits on the front porch, glowing hearts slowly flickering and dying. Chell gestures to the front door and glares at Wheatley again. Her way of saying, "Happy now?"

Wheatley smiles happily and pats the floor beside him. "C'mere Luv' I want to see you up close," he coos.

Chell contemplates grabbing one of the cans and tossing it at his head. She's rather sick and tired of him already and she's only known him for a day. But she figures that, if she's going to spend the next few days walking through the wheat fields with him, she might as well make an attempt to befriend the man. With another roll of her eyes and exaggerated sigh, she walks over and flops down beside him.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" He chuckles slowly wrapping his arms around her. Chell tenses up, obviously uncomfortable with him so close, but she stays silent an still hoping he'll get the drift when he catches the deathly stare she's giving him.

He can't. His eyes are closed and he's humming softly into the crook of her neck. He falls back and pulls her down with him, settling into the cushions and blankets with a content sigh. Chell gives him a nudge to try and separate herself from him but he clings onto her tighter. With another defeated sigh she lolls her head to the side and closes her eyes. The terrible feeling that she can't shake itching at the back of her mind as they drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** LONG TIME NO UPDATE! How's everyone doing? So fun fact! I had a total mental breakdown while writing this chapter for reasons I don't wanna talk about so that's why it took a little longer than normal. BUT I'M GOOD NOW! Woo! So I'll be writing Chapter 5 soon! Yay! Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think! There's some serious drama coming up in the next few chapters so I hope you enjoy these fluffy moments.


	6. Chapter 5: Talk

**Chapter 5: Talk**

It's not the bright morning light in her face or the cold sweat that makes a shiver run up her spine that wakes her. No, it's the itchy stubble of Wheatley's chin against her head and the soft bumbling snore he emits that wakes her. His scent - a mixture of vile, putrid body oder and that strange goo from the cryo-pods - doesn't help either.

Chell would glare angrily up at him, but he seems to have her in a tight hold, forcing her to bury her face into the nape of his neck, her breath hot against his skin. She tries to wriggle free only for his arms to clamp around her even tighter than before. It takes her awhile, but eventually she frees herself and tip toes away, avoiding the creakier spots in the floor so he won't wake up.

She slips out onto the front porch and stares down at the cube. Its once pink glowing hearts now dead, the charred edges showing signs of rust and age. It looks like it would disintegrate with the simplest of touches. Chell frowns. She never noticed the rapid deterioration of her precious cube before. She was too focused on surviving to notice that the cube was simply not going to last any longer out here.

For a split second, Chell contemplates taking off, leaving Wheatley behind and finding sanctuary someplace else. As far away as possible. But the cube flickers in protest, as if to tell her that its okay with being replaced. Chell sighs sadly, accepting her old friend's fate.

"I'm sorry, I should have taken better care of you. Let's find you a better resting place," Chell whispers, picking the cube up gently and carrying it around to the back yard.

The back yard is overgrown with weeds and thick shrubbery. The Aperture building looms in the distance, giving off a rather totalitarian vibe. Chell shudders and walks over to a large willow tree, parting the vine-like leaves and setting the cube down near the base of the trunk. She stands in silence for a moment or two in mourning for her friend, watching as the pink hearts flicker and finally give up on life.

"CHELL?! CHELL WHERE ARE YOU?"

Chell groans as she hears his voice call out to her. He must have woken up when she was out on the front porch. Slowly, Chell pokes her head through the vines and stares up at the house. Wheatley has his face pressed against the back door window, frantically looking for her in the back yard. When he spots her, he lets out a sigh of relief and opens the door.

"There you are, Luv! Thought you went ahead and left without me for a minute there! wouldn't want that now would we? You don't even know where Brookhope is, do you? Unless you've been fooling me this whole time and actually do have your memory back. That would make me very happy. You're not just joshing me are you?"

She walks up to him and shook her head. Nope. She didn't remember a thing. Still.

"Oh good. Now, I suppose we should get going, then. We don't have all day, y'know," He muses, his voice is almost accusing. As if he is blaming her for being late to some imaginary party they need to be at. Chell scowls and rolls her eyes, following him back into the house.

Once inside, they set to work, packing their supplies and tidying up after themselves. Wheatley wonders why they would need to clean up, but Chell shushes him, explaining there might be other survivors out there who could use this place as a safe haven. He doesn't argue, but secretly he hopes that she's wrong.

~x~

"Are you alright, dear? Are you sure you don't want me carrying the bag for awhile? You look a little tired," He asks, pushing more wheat out of his way as he looks down at Chell.

Chell shakes her head, she's fine, though she could use a break. They had been walking for a good four hours now and the sun was hot on their backs. Chell wonders how she can produce so much sweat, but her thoughts are interrupted again by Wheatley's constant chatter.

"Well you're gonna love Brookhope. Wonderful little town. Not named after us... y'know, seeing as our last name is Brooke. But turns out there once was a brook running through it! Not sure if it's still there... We used to hang out around it with that friend of yours... whatshername... ahhh... Jenny? No... it was something with an A... Adelaide? No, no... Ally? Yes! That's it! Ally! You and her were glued at the hip! Inseparable! You once told me you met her when you were... uh... 9, I think. You were young. Oh man alive, she was a hoot! Lovely young woman. Always wondered why you called her Harpy though. Guess that's something we'll have to ask her if she's still around. Anyways, you two were best mates. Made your wedding dress, she did. She was your maid of honor too. For both weddings. Cause you know the deal, me mum and dad got so upset when we eloped..."

He did not shut up, did he? Though the talk of her friends before Aperture did intrigue her. She still doesn't believe him, but she lets him ramble on, the noise becoming a sort of background noise to their journey.

"You'll see Chell dear, everything's gonna be great! You'll get your memories back, everyone'll be glad to see us and we'll just continue where we left off. It'll be like none of that testing junk you did ever happened!"

Chell likes the sound of that. The forgetting Aperture ever happened part that is. She couldn't care less about the memories Wheatley is determined to give back to her or the fact that her life before all this was different. All she really cares about now is surviving and finding other survivors.

Chell is tired and in need of a break. She stops in the middle of the field and drops to the ground, sitting indian style and wiping the sweat from her brow. Wheatley hardly notices at first but when he does he instantly panics, looking around frantically for the petite brunette. When he finally finds her, Chell laughs silently at the exaggerated look of relief that washes over him. He's like a living cartoon character, all gangly and awkward, eyes wide and animated as he blabbers on about being so scared of losing her. It almost makes him attractive, how he cares for her so much even when she wants little to do with him at all. Or desperate, yeah, she settles on desperate. How pathetic... in an endearing way.

After their break Chell stands up and stretches, ready to be on her way again. It's not long before they stumble upon a small suburb of sorts made up of small townhouses and what looked to be large dormitories - all abandoned of course. Famished, Wheatley taps Chell's shoulder, "Uh, not to alarm you or anything, but I'm a little hungry and I think it's going to rain soon. Do you think we should... oh I don't know, go inside?"

She nods, heading towards the nearest townhouse. She finds it locked and her heart skips a beat, perhaps there is people inside! She knocks frantically of the door, heart pounding nervously in her chest. No answer. She knocks again, a little more impatiently this time. She can hear Wheatley clear his throat behind her. "Shh!" She shushes Wheatley before he could even have time to open his mouth. She knocks again, this time more angrily, as if the people inside owe her a debt.

"Luv', I don't think anyone's in there..." Wheatley gulps.

"How would you know that?" Chell snaps, turning to glare at him. She puts her hands on her hips and watches as he shrinks back in fear.

"B-Because I used to live... Just down the street... In the d-dorms. These are the A-Aperture employee housing units... I lived here back before we met and... while we were dating," He confesses nervously.

She instantly calms down, "You... know this area?"

"Like the back of my hand, Luv'" He beams.

She stands there, dumbfounded for a moment as she tries to recall ever visiting this place at all. Of course, nothing.

He chuckles, "It's alright, that was a very long time ago... This whole place, Littleton too, was under the watch of Aperture... You and I didn't spend much time here cause uh.. heh, y'know..." He starts blushing as he rubs the back of his neck. She gives him a confused glance and he shakes his head, "Never mind. It's not important right now. Let's go back to my old Dorm. I'm sure I can remember how to get in, simple stuff really, picking locks that is... who knows! Maybe the key will be left under the mat like it usually was! Or maybe it's unlocked! Didn't really think of that, huh? Guess we'll just have to see."

He starts another ramble as they walk, explaining all his little adventures in the dorms - which are apparently set up like small apartments - and how him and his work buddies would play pranks on each other like they were in college still. Chell isn't really listening as they approach the large building.

Just as they near the steps, the sky darkens, the clouds greying as a loud crash of thunder scares them and large droplets of cold rain start pouring down onto them. Wheatley grabs Chell's hands and runs towards the shelter of the dorms, yanking open the door (rather pleased to find it unlocked) and heads straight for one of the ground floor apartments. He busts the lock, claiming it a trick he learned to do during his "single" days and ushers Chell into the apartment.

It's cramped. The combination living room and kitchen is actually empty of any furniture, but the floor is littered with papers and art supplies, paint stains and charcoal smudges are all over, making the room seem smaller than it actually is. The atmosphere is strange... the air thick with dust, but it's almost as if there's a presence in the room with them. A ghost of the man who once lived here.

Wheatley lets out an annoyed huff and storms into the kitchen to see if the water works. Chell, not really knowing or caring why he's all of a sudden very miffed, takes to admiring the artwork scattered around. Something about it seems familiar. The scratchy almost demented style of the paintings and scribbles match those of the murals she'd seen in Aperture... Her eyes widen as she glances up at Wheatley and asks innocently, "Who lived here?"

"How the bloody hell should I know?" He snaps, tossing the kettle into the sick angrily. "The water doesn't work here either! Bloody Fuck!" Now it's Chell's turn to shrink away in fear, she knew he could have a temper, but what on earth would he be so angry about now?"

"Why are you so angry? Calm down!" She tries to comfort him, but he's suddenly enraged by her presence or something.

"You know who lived here? You know who sat here at night, keeping us all awake with his stupid bloody crappy music? That nutcase Rattmann! That's who! He'd spend all night painting and drawing his stupid little stick figures, listening to his whiney depressing music while he should have been sleeping or doing proper science like the rest of us. Funnily enough, they said he was Schizophrenic! Looking around I can see why. Off his nut that man... He was a big annoyance. I have no bloody clue why they would ever hire a loser like him!" Wheatley rants, throwing his hands into the air before realizing how silly he must look to Chell, who is standing in the middle of the room, giving him a look that suggests she'd just seen a horse give birth and she has no idea if she should act disgusted or awed or both.

"Right... Well let's just say I didn't like the bloke... I forgot this was where he lived. You used to hang out with him a lot actually. Guess it was just a jealousy thing... He's gone now though Luv' so we don't have to worry about him anymore," He sighs, running a large hand through his hair.

"How... do you know he's gone though?" Chell asks, though she's not sure if she should have, she really doesn't want to get in the way of his anger...

"I just do, alright? Everyone else is gone! So he's probably gone too right?" Wheatley glares at her suspiciously, his voice almost venomous. Chell nods quickly, afraid he might hurt her like his core counterpart had if she said anything else about the subject.

"Let's eat... I'm probably just cranky because I'm positively starved!" Wheatley smiles, as if the little fit he'd just thrown had never happened. Chell nods again and digs a can of broccoli soup out of the bag, handing it to him and digging around for another.

By the time she pulls a can out for herself, Wheatley has already dug right into his, scooping the gelatinous liquid out and slurping it down eagerly. She grimaces at how sloppily he eats, and sticks to her own food, shuffling away slightly so she won't be an accidental target for flying bits of broccoli and creamy base.

Once they finish, Wheatley pats his belly in satisfaction and tosses the can into a pile of Rattmann's drawings. Chell hisses for him to put his trash away, but Wheatley just scoffs and exclaims the drawings belong in the trash too. Chell decides not to argue, it's been a long day, and the loud pitter-patter of rain outside is distracting her from continuing anything worthwhile between herself and Wheatley.

She stands up and makes her way to the sliding door on one side of the room, pulling it open and stepping into the cold rain. A smile creeps across her lips, she's missed this, this sensation of cold droplets hitting her skin and face and washing over her like the heat of the sun had when she first stepped out into it after GLaDOS had set her free. She outstretches her arms and tilts her head up, eyes closed and smiling from ear to ear as the cold rain runs down her neck and washes away the dirt and grime.

"What are you doing out there Luv'? You're gonna catch cold out there!" Wheatley's voice chimes in, destroying the moment. Chell turns slowly to see him standing in the doorway, a mixture of confusion and worry fixed into his features.

"I was enjoying the rain," She calls back to him, straining her voice.

"What are you mad? You'll catch pneumonia or something! Get back in here and I'll find a blanket or towel or something to keep you warm and dry," He muses, gesturing for her to follow him.

She shakes her head, "But I like it out here!"

"Chell! You'll get sick! Come inside now!" He yells.

She pauses for a moment before knitting her brows in anger and replying, "You don't control me, you know! I'm not yours to boss around! Not anymore!"

Wheatley scowls, "Excuse me? I'm not allowed to worry about MY wife? You _are_ mine, even though you've gone mad and can't remember it."

Chell is infuriated, how dare he just treat her like she's just one of his belongings! Immediately she stomps towards him, fist raised and ready to shoot. He cowers back, shielding himself with his arms, "And now you want to hit me! See? You've gone nuts! Maybe it's this apartment! You've caught Rattmann's crazies!"

"You're an asshole!" She shouts, her voice cracking and throat searing in pain as her fist collides with his stomach. He let's out a small "oof!" as he crumples over on the carpet. Chell steps over him and storms down the short hallway to the only bedroom, shouting over her shoulder at him, "And I am _not_ your wife!"

~x~

She spends the rest of the day and the whole night in Rattmann's bedroom, which consists of a single bed, a dresser and small window facing the empty fields they'd travelled earlier that day.

Shivering, Chell realizes she'd left the back pack containing all their clothes in the living room with Wheatley, and being tenacious as ever, she decides she will tough it out and strips out of her wet clothing, hanging them to dry on the dresser.

She digs around in the dresser for new clothing to wear, but it seems Rattmann's apartment has either been looted or moths have eaten everything he owned as the only things she can find are underwear and socks. Sighing, she pulls the heavy down comforter off the bed and wraps it around herself, hoping that will be enough to keep herself warm for the night.

She hears Wheatley snoring out in the living room. He's mumbling something in his sleep, but it's muffled by the distance and the thick wooden door separating them from each other. Chell gives up, not wanting to deal or even think of Wheatley right now.

Sighing, Chell clambers up onto the bed and huddles in the corner, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping the blanket around her shoulders tighter. She watches the moon and stars through her window for a few hours until finally she drifts off to sleep, curled up in the fetal position.

Her dreams are full of petty words and robotic rage again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hello! I am back! Sorta! Sorry for such a long delay! I finished this chapter today finally and thought I should post it up now. Anyways, funfact Harpy is a real person! She's someone I RP with on tumblr and her and my version of Chell are best buddies. Also yeah, Rattmann. There'll be hints of my OTP Chellmann in this. JUST SAYING. Please don't ask when the next chapter is coming out, i'm busy with school and work so I HAVE NO IDEA OKAY? Thanks for reading!


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